Suppliers may not be able to keep up with Apple's demands for iPad 2 and iPhone 4 components in the coming months, it has been claimed.

According to a report in Digitimes shipments of iPad 2 and iPhone 4 orders in the second quarter are likely to be affected by component shortages caused by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year.

The problem lies with one of Apple's key suppliers, Foxconn, which faces a shortage of labour and materials at its plants in Chengdu, China. Foxconn has said that it is doing everything it can to meet its customers' needs, though couldn't say if it would be able to hire enough extra staff to meet demand.

Apple is apparently putting pressure on Foxconn to increase output as it reckons it could sell as many as 22 million iPhones in the second quarter of 2011, up from 18.6 million in the first quarter.

iPad 2 production, which takes place in Foxconn's Chengdu plants, is being badly affected by shortages of memory and power amplifiers, according to the Digitimes report. Analysts reckon Apple will sell around seven million iPad 2s in the second quarter, though Apple is prepared for higher demand, putting the figure at over 10 million units.

Worldwide supplies of the iPad 2 are already stretched, with customers in the UK and US still looking at shipping delays of one to two weeks, so any further delays could cause more frustration among potential buyers.

The report comes on the back of estimates from Ticonderoga Securities that Apple sales were up 113 percent year-on-year in April.

This story, "IPad 2 and IPhone 4 Shortages on the Way?" was originally published by
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